Webb Space Telescope Arrives In French Guiana For December Launch - NASA

The James Webb observatory, the space-based successor to the Hubble telescope, completed a 16-day voyage to French Guiana ahead of a December launch from Europe's South American spaceport, NASA said on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2021) The James Webb observatory, the space-based successor to the Hubble telescope, completed a 16-day voyage to French Guiana ahead of a December launch from Europe's South American spaceport, NASA said on Tuesday.

"The 1,500-mile voyage took Webb from California through the Panama Canal to Port de Pariacabo on the Kourou River in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America," NASA said in a press release.

The observatory will next be driven to its launch site, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, where it will begin two months of operational preparations before its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket, scheduled for December 18.

Unlike its predecessor, the Earth-orbiting Hubble telescope, the Webb observatory will orbit the sun about a million miles from Earth. From that position, the telescope will be able to explore every phase of cosmic history - from within our solar system to the most distant galaxies in the early universe, according to NASA.